Technovation 27 (2007) 280–295 Appropriability of innovation results: An empirical study in Spanish manufacturing firms Nuria Gonza´lez-A ´ lvarez à , Mariano Nieto-Antolı´n a Departamento de Direccio´n y Economı´a de la Empresa, Universidad de Leo´n, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071 Leo´n, Spain Abstract This study is intended to analyse several mechanisms available to companies in order to appropriate the results of their innovative activities. These mechanisms include patents, industrial secret, cost and time of imitation and continuous innovation. Specifically, this paper focuses on studying the factors that determine the choice of one appropriation method over another. To this end, we propose a specific model of analysis, which includes various hypotheses to be tested in a sample of 258 Spanish manufacturing companies. The results confirm that companies that mostly use explicit knowledge chose the patenting system as a defence mechanism, while those companies in which tacit type knowledge predominates tend to opt for industrial secret. We could also prove that larger companies tend to choose the patenting system as a protection mechanism. Finally, the hypothesis that companies that use high-commitment human resources practices use continuous innovation or technological leadership as a protection mechanism could also be tested. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Appropriability; Knowledge protection; Patents; Spain 1. Introduction The resource-based view (RBV) has become the domi- nant paradigm in strategic management research (Peteraf, 1993). According to this perspective, variations in the performance of companies that compete within a single industry can be explained on the basis of the differences in their provision of resources (Barney, 1986a, b, 1991; Peteraf, 1993; Wernerfelt, 1984). Traditionally, it has been thought that companies that have valuable, rare, non- substitutable and non-imitable resources will be able to achieve and maintain an advantageous position with respect to their competitors (Barney, 1991, p. 56). Of these four characteristics, inimitability is the most important (Hoopes et al., 2003, p. 890) and is the most important contribution of the RBV (Barney, 2001, p. 45). Similarly, maintenance of competitive superiority over time depends on the ability of a company to protect its innovations from imitation by its rivals. In order to do this, innovative companies have various alternatives available to them, as we can see from the studies by Scherer et al. (1959), Mansfield (1986a), Teece (1987), Levin et al. (1987), Dosi (1988), Geroski (1995), Harabi (1995), Cohen et al. (2000), Arundel (2001) and Cohen et al. (2002). These alternatives include patents, industrial secrets, lead-time advantages, imitation cost and time and the use of complementary resources. In this regard, the aim of this study is to analyse four mechanisms that innovative firms have for achieving a better appropriation of the results of technological activity. These are patents, industrial secret, cost and time for imitation and continuous innovation. In short, an attempt shall be made to analyse which factors related to knowl- edge attributes and the characteristics of companies in general determine the firm’s choice of one method or another. Several reasons can justify the choice of these factors. First, the knowledge attributes and the size are ones of the firm’s most traditional factors linked to innovation protection and they have been analysed in all types of international studies (Arora, 1997; Brouwer and Kleinknecht, 1999; Cohen et al., 2000; Arundel, 2001; Hall and Ziedonis, 2001; Kingston, 2001; Pitkethly, 2001; Nieto ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/technovation 0166-4972/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2006.12.004 à Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 987 29 17 14; fax: +34 987 29 17 50. E-mail addresses: ddenga@unileon.es (N. Gonza´lez-A ´ lvarez), ddemna@unileon.es (M. Nieto-Antolı´n).